My Trip To Barnes & Nobles

me | Ditter

[Ditter]

Tonight at Barnes & Nobels I got angry! I went to buy Dick Morris's new book Rewriting History. When I entered the store the table facing the front door was covered with all the new anti-Bush books, too many to mention. I looked all the way around the table expecting to find Morris on the back side. His book wasn't there.

I went to the nearest cash register & asked the lady where I might find Rewriting History (I am starting to smolder). She checked the computer and then informed me it was all the way across the store on the back wall.

I asked her why it was that the anti-Bush books slapped me in the face when I came in, but I had to ask for help to find Morris's book. She frowned and then said "I wish I knew, I just do what I am told". I told her I would like to ask the manager that question and she said "I wish you would, let me call him". She was grinning from ear to ear.

In a few minutes the manager showed up and after I asked him my question he blushed and stammered for a minute. Then he apologized several times and said he would make sure, from now on, that the front table would be "fair and balanced".

Then he added that the pro Bush books sold better anyway and they should be up front, like he didn't even know that they weren't.

[mewzilla]

BEZOS, JACKLYN G
HOUSTON, TX 77056
AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC

AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC. SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND
10/20/2000 5000.00 20036640344

BEZOS, JACKLYN G.
MERCER ISLAND, WA 98040
AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC./BOARD ME

AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC. SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND
12/12/2003 5000.00 24990022493

BEZOS, JEFFREY
BELLEVUE, WA 98009
AMAZON

MURRAY, PATTY
VIA PEOPLE FOR PATTY MURRAY U S SENATE CAMPAIGN
03/31/2003 1000.00 23020200495

BEZOS, JEFFREY
BELLEVUE, WA 98009
AMAZON.COM

ABRAHAM, SPENCER SENATOR
VIA ABRAHAM SENATE 2000
10/16/2000 1000.00 20020371437

MURRAY, PATTY
VIA PEOPLE FOR PATTY MURRAY U S SENATE CAMPAIGN
04/16/2003 1000.00 23020311730

BEZOS, JEFFREY
BELLEVUE, WA 98009
AMAZON.COM INC

CANTWELL, MARIA
VIA CANTWELL 2006
04/04/2001 1000.00 21020141088
04/04/2001 1000.00 21020141090

BEZOS, JEFFREY P
BELLEVUE, WA 98009
AMAZON.COM

CONYERS, JOHN JR
VIA FRIENDS OF JOHN CONYERS
10/18/2000 1000.00 20036410097

GORTON, SLADE
VIA FRIENDS FOR SLADE GORTON
10/08/2000 1000.00 20020352297

BEZOS, JEFFREY P
BELLEVUE, WA 98009
AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC

AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC. SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND
09/29/2000 5000.00 20036282459

BEZOS, JEFFREY P
SEATTLE, WA 98121
AMAZON.COM

LEAHY, PATRICK
VIA LEAHY FOR U.S. SENATOR COMMITTEE
01/18/1998 1000.00 98020081599
01/18/1998 1000.00 98020081599

BEZOS, JEFFREY P.
BELLEVUE, WA 98009
AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC./CEO

AMAZON.COM HOLDINGS INC. SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND
12/21/2001 5000.00 22990037159
12/27/2002 5000.00 23990013013
10/29/2003 5000.00 23992240270

Total Contributions: 39000.00

[battlecry]

They do the same thing with Michael Kelly's "Things Worth Fighting For". Scumbags

[highlandbreeze]

I get angry every time I go in one. The anti-Bush books outnumber Pro books 6-1 it seems.

[Frank_2001]

I've noticed the same thing where I live (S. Florida), the Bush-bashing books are very prominently displayed stacked on tables while the pro-Bush (or generally conservative) books are definitely not as well visible, with only a couple of tokens on the tables.

[highlandbreeze]

I think I'll shop at Books-a-Million.

[Lawgvr1955]

I suggest contacting Morris or his agent and advising them of the situation. I would think that when you negotiate a contract with a book store or other entity to distribute your book that there is some clause concerning its display similarly to what food manufacturers do in grocery stores. Certain spaces are "higher traffic" and are better locations in a store. That is why Coke, etc., are eye level and the off brands are way down low or up high.

Authors would probably object to libs playing games with the marketing of their books.

[mewzilla]

I used to work in a chain bookstore. It was....educational :)

[cincy29]

I stopped going to Barnes and Noble when I failed to find a single conservative magazine on their racks, but plenty of liberal ones. I asked the clerk, and she wanted to know if Rush Limbaugh sent me in here to claim that there was some sort of weird conspiracy about their magazines. I found the manager, who told me that if I did not like his magazine selections, I was free to go somewhere else. It was his store, just the way he wanted it.

Two good things have since happened: I shop exclusively at Border's---- altough I doubt their politics are any better, their selection is. Second, this particular Barnes & Noble has closed.

[Lexinom]

The bookstores sure "feel" liberal. I don't know if it's the format, the cafés, or what... Something in the ambiance just feels... smug... elite... Kerry-like...

Oh well, maybe I'm just being paranoid! :-)

[Hatteras]

Why is it that when I clicked on your post, I immediately got a pop-up ad for Barnes & Noble?! Seriesly...

[Ophiucus]

The pro-Bush books aren't in front for the same reason that tomato soup is on the bottom shelf in the grocery store.

Simple sales strategy - marketers place items in the special island displays at the entrance like Barnes or at eye level in grocery stores to encourage impulse buys. They are items that are new or that don't have reliable sales figures. Thus, the consumer needs to be tricked into buying.

However, a product that the marketers know has a guaranteed sale are placed out of impulse reach - the bottom shelves in a grocery store or back on the regular subject shelves in a book store. The customer enters the store already intending to buy this item so no impulse lure is required.

Essentially, pro-Bush books have a guaranteed, regular demand resulting in steady sales so no special marketing tricks are needed....just like tomato soup.

[MediaMole]

At least B&N CARRIES books from conservatives. One local chain (3 big stores) will not carry conservative books. They go so far as to refuse to hire people who answer the political questions "incorrectly" on their job application.

[Ditter]

>>>"this particular Barnes & Nobels has closed">>>>>>

Makes you feel all warm & fuzzy doesn't it? HA!

[swheats]

Thanks for the info. It's depressing realizing how we're supporting them.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Just like the fishwraps who steadily lose subscribers and TV news hemorrhaging viewers thanks to their leftist slant. I think they'll all take steps to fix thier loses, but only after November 2.

[novacation]

I noticed long ago the B&N was a left leaning store.Try to buy and order from smaller private stores while there are still a few left.

[Ditter]

LOL!

[Cicero]

Almost all the bigshots in the book business are liberals. But some of them favor the bottom line and deal reasonably fairly. I'd put Amazon in that category. They may be liberals, but they don't try to hide the conservative books. Barnes & Noble is egregious. There's a mound of anti-Bush books in the Greenwich village B&N that's as big as the Great Pyramid.

[Lexinom]

Good grief... At least Amazon contributed to Slade Gorton. He was a great senator for WA for many years. It was probably insurance, though, in case he had beaten Cantwell...